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Sembra quasi incredibile che nessuno abbia ancora parlato di questa vecchia raccolta floydiana. Certo la discografia ufficiale offre molti più spunti di discussione, ma è anche da questi archivi di singoli e brani sparsi degli esordi che si evincono motivazioni ed evoluzioni di artisti di tale peso storico e culturale.
"Masters of Rock" - pubblicato nel 1974 già con la dicitura Vol. 1 - è un vinile relativamente conosciuto che non ebbe però il successo di "Relics"; vuoi perchè contenente tracce già note di "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", vuoi per una confezione meno accattivante, vuoi perchè edito in una fase in cui la band era andata ben oltre i presupposti di quelle primissime composizioni. A mio avviso, infatti, il pubblico di quel periodo era troppo concentrato sul clamoroso successo di "Dark Side" e su quel tipo di sound per avere uno stimolo a pescare in un passato troppo recente. I gusti erano rapidamente cambiati, la psichedelia seminale britannica era appena morta e l'eredita barrettiana non era ancora vissuta con i contorni di una sacrale esegesi.
Dunque, "Masters of Rock" è rimasto un lavoro di catalogazione minore che solo gli appassionati più radicali hanno consumato sul giradischi.
La titletrack è peraltro molto interessante. A parte i singoli primevi "Arnold Layne" e "See Emily Play", a parte "Julia Dream" e "Paint Box" comparsi nel succitato "Relics", ci sono "Candy and a current bun", "Apples and oranges" e "It would be so nice": canzoni anche queste primeve che costituiscono l'ossatura dell'esordio discografico e testimoniano una fase di crescita in cui le pressioni dei produttori scavalcavano la reale ispirazione dei musicisti. Non è un mistero che questi tre pezzi non ebbero il riscontro sperato e che oggi fanno parte di un bagaglio di curiosità transitorie dal sapore un po' beatlesiano e sicuramente barrettiano. Da questo punto di vista, per l'appunto, sono più interessanti sul piano gestionale che su quello strettamente artistico. I Floyd di "Apples and oranges" si stavano sforzando di non perdere il passo e di mantenere alta la soglia di attenzione del pubblico. A detta degli stessi Mason e Waters, le ballad semi-psichedeliche di quel periodo avevano una valenza musicale inferiore a certe composizioni comparse sull'album d'esordio.
Composizioni che, come detto, fanno capolino anche in "Masters of Rock" e si pongono in qualche modo come metro di paragone stilistico; tra l'altro evocando le atmosfere più fiabesche e orientaleggianti dell'epoca Barrett, atmosfere fortemente assenti da una "It would be so nice" che suonava più pop e più famigliare. Il canto trasognato di "Chapter 24" e il mood arabo di "Matilda Mother" sono una specie di contraltare ai ritornelli schitarrati delle altre ballad. Da qui, la convinzione che questa raccolta eterogenea è uno strumento completo ed esaustivo per comprendere cosa facevano i Pink Floyd in quegli anni.
Una fotografia a collage, insomma, che ci mostra la faccia migliore e quella peggiore di un gruppo che tra il 1966 e il 1968 segnò un punto fondamentale nella storia del rock, senza fare mistero dei propri errori e dei propri momenti meno nobili.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Chapter 24 (03:42)
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset.
The time is with the month of winter solstice
When the change is due to come.
Thunder in the other course of heaven.
Things cannot be destroyed once and for all.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
03 Arnold Layne (02:55)
Arnold Layne had a strange hobby
Collecting clothes
Moonshine washing line
They suit him fine
On the wall hung a tall mirror
Distorted view, see through baby blue
Oh, Arnold Layne
It's not the same, takes two to know
Two to know, two to know
Why can't you see?
Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne
Now he's caught - a nasty sort of person
They gave him time
Doors bang - chain gang - he hates it
Oh, Arnold Layne
It's not the same, takes two to know
Two to know, two to know
Why can't you see?
Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne
Don't do it again
04 Candy and a Currant Bun (02:55)
Oh my girl sitting in the sky
Go buy candy and encouragement
I like to see you cry
Lay back
Oooh, don't talk to me
Please, just fuck with me
Please you know I'm feeling frail
Talk, talk, talk to me
Please just walk with me
Please no feeling frail
It's true sun's shining very bright
It's you I'm gonna love tonight
Ice cream tastes good in the afternoon
Ice cream tastes good if you eat it soon
Ooh, don't touch me child
Please - no !
You drive me wild
Please you know I'm feeling frail
Don't try another cat
Don't go where other you must know why
Ver very very frail
Oh my girl sitting in the sun
Go buy candy and a currant bun
I like to see you run
Like that...
05 The Scarecrow (02:09)
The black and green scarecrow as ev'ryone knows
Stood with a bird on his hat and straw everywhere
He didn't care...
He stood in a field where barley grows
His head did no thinking his arms didn't move
Except when the wind cut up rough
And mice ran around on the ground
He stood in a field where barley grows
The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me
But now he's resigned to his fate
'Cause life's not unkind
He doesn't mind
He stood in a field where barley grows
06 Apples and Oranges (03:05)
Got a flip-top pack of cigarettes in her pocket
Feeling good at the top
Shopping in sharp shoes
Walking in the sunshine town feeling very cool
But the butchers and the bakers in the supermarket stores
Getting everything she wants from the supermarket stores
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges
Cornering neatly she trips up sweetly
To meet the people
She's on time again
And then
I catch her by the eye then I stop and have to think
What a funny thing to do 'cause I'm feeling very pink
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges
I love she
She loves me
See you
See you
Thought you might to know
I'm the lorry driver man
She's on the run
Down by the river side
Feeding ducks by the afternoon tide
(Quack quack)
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges
07 It Would Be So Nice (03:45)
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet, sometime
Everybody wakes, and in the morning
Hot tea and can't stop yawning
Pass the butter please
Have you ever read the Daily Standard?
Reading all about the plane that's landed
Upside down?
And no one knows what I did today
There can be no other way
But I would just like to say
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
Everybody cares about the weather
And everybody should know better
What a waste of time
Everybody lives beneath the ceiling
Living out a dream that sends them reeling
To a distant place
But no one knows what I did today
There can be no other way
But I would just like to say
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
08 Paint Box (03:29)
Last night I had too much to drink
Sitting in a club with so many fools
Playing to rules
Trying to impress but feeling rather empty
I had another drink
Drink - a - drink - a - drink - a - drink
What a way to spend that evening
They all turn up with their friends
Playing the game
But in the scene I should have been
Far away
Away - away - away - away - away
Getting up, I feel as if I'm remembering this scene before
I open the door to an empty room
Then I forget
The telephone rings and someone speaks
She would very much like to go out to a show
So what can I do - I can't think what to say
She sees through anyway
Away - away - away - away - away
Out of the front door I go
Traffic's moving rather slow
Arriving late, there she waits
Looking very angry, as cross as she can be
Be - a - be - a - be - a - be - a - be
Getting up, I feel as if I'm remembering this scene before
I open the door to an empty room
Then I forget
10 See Emily Play (02:54)
Emily tries but misunderstands, ah ooh
She often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play
Soon after dark Emily cries, ah ooh
Gazing through trees in sorrow hardly a sound till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play
Put on a gown that touches the ground, ah ooh
Float on a river forever and ever, Emily
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play
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